[typhonblue]

***Spoilers warning! Don't read unless you want the game completely, utterly and incontrovertably ruined.***
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/begin Spoiler Space
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Spoilers ahead!
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I'm not kidding, definate spoilers!
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***/end Spoiler Space***


I'm new. Hooyah!

I've been playing oddworld games since I got an intro to the series in MO, which I loved. However... I have to say that Stranger's Wrath is considerably better.

I just finished it today and I loved nearly every bit of it... from the game play, to the unbelivable graphics... everything but the voice acting(except for Stranger's). I could handle the monotony--mostly-- till Fredya Evrting opened her grub mouth and sounded exactly like all the other supposedly male grubs. That one thing threw me right out of the story. I managed to get right back in of course, but... still.

But what really made it one of the best games I've ever played were the characters. And by characters, I mean Stranger.

Somebody suggested Stranger was stupid. I don't agree. Just because he talks slowly and carefully doesn't make him stupid. In fact I got the opposite impression, that he was a very quick thinker. ***Final Spoilers Warning*** The scene where he's confronted with a bounty on his own people... he doesn't even blink, just continues on with his bad-ass bounty hunter routine, even though he's facing death and the genocide of his race. That kind of control is not the mark of someone stupid. And it did affect him; there are hints of it all throughout the phone call to Sekto, and after.

A reviewer on another site said Stranger was unsympathetic. (Due to the monotone voice acting, apparently.) I don't get that either. His is a profound spiritual story, told very subtly. He can't allow himself the luxury of emotional displays. He's constantly on guard just to survive. Several times during the cut scenes he's about to break down, and catches himself. That speakes more to me then hysterical gnashing of teath, rending of hair and wailing would. Definately a complex emotional character.

It's also nice to see OWI add a bit of sex appeal to their characters. *squee* I'm a complete fangirl when it comes to that.

Speaking of fanish glee... I thought the funniest scene in the whole game was when Sekto's Wolvark Hunter was thumbing through the details of Stranger's operation and came to the page after the main part of the proceedure was illustrated. Eye-popping double take, cue music... "D'oh?!?". Makes me wonder what was on that page, particularly since the gist of the operation was obvious from the prior page. Maybe some details on soft tissue reassignment/reconstruction the good doc had to do?

The phrase "hung like a steef" comes to mind.

Hee hee...

Anyway, hi! Hope I don't get torn apart for my spoilers.